


If you hurt him, I will beat you to death with a shovel.

by ShipLostAtSea



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Kind of AU, M/M, Pining, protective big brother Ben, short but sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2016-12-29
Packaged: 2018-09-13 05:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9109063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipLostAtSea/pseuds/ShipLostAtSea
Summary: Michael falls in love even more after seeing Luke play a show at the local club, Ben has something to say, and Luke is just overall embarrassed (but still cute) (even though Michael would never admit that).





	

“Hey,” Ben tapped Michael on the shoulder as soon as Luke had finished playing, leaving the stage with his guitar.   
He had seemed so happy (and a little bit relieved) and Michael just wanted to find him and hug him and congratulate him on his show.

 

He let his eyes wander around, trying to figure out where Luke went, but couldn't make out his long legs or blonde quiffed hair anywhere in the crowd, so he turned his head and focused on Ben instead. He looked a lot like Luke, Michael noticed.   
The same clear blue eyes (even though Luke's were a little bit bigger, and rounder, making him seem so much more innocent than Ben), the same cute little nose (that Michael totally hadn't thought of peppering in sweet little kisses, nope, absolutely not, that wouldn't be punk-rock at all) and the same wide shoulders, that now appeared even broader than before, because Ben had his arms crossed in front of his chest. 

 

“Can I talk to you?” the older boy asked, voice suddenly serious. He nodded his head into the direction of a door at the back of the club, motioning Michael to follow him outside. 

 

There was an uneasy feeling rising in Michael's chest as he walked trough the crowd.

 

While they had cheered and applauded just a moment ago, they were now chatting vividly with each other, in no way aware of anything that was happening around them. Michael hadn't really realised how many people there were because he had been so concentrated on Luke. 

 

He loved the way Luke played, focused on his guitar threads at first, but then stealing small glances at the crowd, before finally looking up properly and taking the moment in. He loved the way the way Luke's voice would crack at that certain part of the song, the way he grew more and more comfortable on the stage in front of all those people and most importantly the way that he had looked into Michael's eyes at one point and Michael had felt like he was only singing for him (and the way how sappy and idiotic all these feelings made him, what the fuck was going on with him?)

 

Normally, he would shove the people around him out of his way, not caring what anyone thought of him, but right now, under the piercing gaze of a person that meant the world to Luke (and that could probably influence him a lot with his opinion), he felt small and insecure. Which was bad, because Michael Clifford didn't do insecure.

 

Ben and Michael made their way past all these people without exchanging anymore words.   
It was only when they had reached the back-door, slipping through it unnoticed by anyone, standing in front of each other in the chilly air that Ben spoke up again.  
“So,” he started and then paused, looking down at his feet, as if he wasn't sure how to continue and needed a moment to formulate what he wanted to say.  
“What is it?” Michael asked, just to be an asshole. Covering up his insecurities by making other people feel bad. Coping-mechanism.   
He didn't really know Ben, had just seen him around a few times at Luke's. The younger boy had talked so much about his two big brothers though, that Michael actually felt like he kind of knew them well.   
In the beginning Michael had sometimes envied Luke, because deep down he knew that he also wanted a family that loved him and big brothers that took care of him, stood with him through thick and thin and that he could always rely on. Then again, he had Calum, who was the best brother that anyone could ask for and Michael knew that they were connected by something stronger that blood. They were connected by choice.

 

“So,” Ben said again, taking Michael out of his thoughts and back to reality.   
“You and Luke. Listen, I'm not really sure if I trust you, and I just want to make sure that you know that if you hurt him...”

 

Michael let out a short humourless laugh. So that was why Ben had been acting so serious. He wanted to give him the big brother talk, wanted to protect his little brother from bad influences, wanted to act all dangerous and mature in front of him.  
Not that Michael didn't understand it, he totally did. He also wanted to shield Luke from everything bad and wrong in the world and on some level he was sure that this included himself, but he was in no way prepared to deal with these thoughts yet. He didn't want to lose Luke as a friend, even if he knew he wasn't good enough for him. The blond boy had become so important to him in the last few weeks that it was scaring Michael a bit, having had no other real friend than Calum for his whole life.

 

He didn't tell Ben any of this though.

 

“We're not even together,” he said instead and took a short moment for himself to secretly cherish the look of disbelief on Ben's face.  
It was only a short moment though. Because as soon as he said it, he could feel his heart aching. 

 

Because he wanted to be, he realised. He wanted to be together with Luke and do all the cheesy couple stuff that he usually despised. Wanted to hold his hand while walking beside each other, wanted to tell Luke about his day, wanted to wake up next to the warm, perfect person that was Luke.   
But Michael knew he couldn't have that. Luke would never feel the same way about him and Michael had accepted that, was trying to make the best out of his friendship with the younger boy. 

 

That didn't mean that Ben's words, a reminder of what Michael desired so much but couldn't have, didn't hurt. And with the way Ben was staring at him right now, the gaze of his ice-blue eyes piercing right into his soul, Michael was sure that he had noticed the change of attitude in the other boy as well.

 

Just as he was about to make a rude, sarcastic comment to direct the attention on anything but himself, the door was pushed open and Luke stuck his head trough it. 

 

“Oh. Here you are,” he said and stepped outside. “I was searching everywhere for the both of you.”  
He looked back and forth between Michael and Ben who were still glaring at each other. Sensing the tensed atmosphere, he furrowed his brows confused, but also suspicious.

 

“What's going on? Did I miss something? What are you doing out here?”   
He looked directly at Michael, gaze questioning.

 

“Your brother here gave me the ʻif-you-hurt-him-I-will-beat-you-to-death-with-a-shovelʼ-talk,” he answered, finally able to break eye contact with Ben to look at Luke. His gaze softened as soon as he saw the big blue eyes, 

 

“You were amazing by the way.” 

 

He opened his arms and pulled Luke in a strong hug, forgetting his totally punk-rock-attitude for a moment.   
The feeling of pride that he had felt earlier came rushing back to him and he squeezed Luke only tighter. A voice in the back of his mind told him that he could get used to this, hugging Luke after a performance, feeling proud and happy for someone that wasn't Calum. 

 

Luke tore himself from Michael, mumbling a quick “thanks” under his breath before he turned his head to glare angrily at Ben. 

“You did what?” he demanded, face bright red in embarrassment.   
“What am I? A fourteen year-old girl?”

 

Ben, totally unaffected by Luke's anger, started to laugh. Michael himself had to smile a bit. Luke was cute when he was angry (Or embarrassed. Or happy. Or sleepy. Michael decided that Luke was just cute in general).  
“Well, no. But you're my baby-brother. Just making sure that you're treated well.”

 

It was obvious that under all the teasing, Ben was honestly concerned for Luke and that he only wanted him to be happy.   
Michael appreciated that. He would do the same thing for Calum, if he wasn't sure that Calum would actually beat him to death with a shovel should he ever find out. Plus, Calum could handle anyone who hurt him pretty well by himself. Luke on the other hand, Michael was sure, couldn't hurt a fly.

 

He had a fond smile on his face as he heard Luke protesting.   
“We're not even together,” he said and buried his face in his hands. “It's not even like that. I'm so sorry Michael, I don't even know why he would...” Luke left the end of the sentence hanging in the air and Michael waved his hand, as if to say 'whatever'.

 

“Ben is going to leave now,” Luke said sharply, after lifting his head up and stemming his hands into his hips. He glared at his older brother, who tipped his head back laughing (something that reminded Michael immediately of Luke's laugh and wow could he be more sappy?) but raised his hands in surrender.

 

“I'm gone. Chill. Jeez.” Ben rolled his eyes as he made his way through the door, back into the loud, busy club.

 

They were finally alone, and Michael took another moment to take in all that was Luke after a show.

 

His blond quiff was slightly tousled, from nervously running his hands through his hair before going on stage. His cheeks were still a faint red, from the excitement and his eyes were still sparkling slightly, even in the rather dark alley behind the back of the club.   
He was practically glowing and Michael was overwhelmed for a second, left wondering how someone like Luke could even get the idea to be friends with someone like himself.  
Before he could get even more emotional than he already was however, he grabbed Luke's hand with one of his.   
“C'mon, let's get you home,” he said and ruffled through Luke's hair with his other hand.

 

Luke grimaced and mumbled something about “not a kid anymore” but let himself be led into the club by Michael without further protest. They picked up his guitar, Luke said his goodbye to Ben and then they walked the few blocks back to Luke's home together in comfortable silence.

 

It took all of Michael's self control to not kiss the younger boy on his front porch, and after Luke had disappeared inside the house, Michael was hit with the realisation that he was even more in love with Luke than he had initially thought. 

 

Well shit.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is an excerpt of a fic that I will never finish, but I wanted to have something uploaded, just to get closure I guess. I'm sorry if it's a confusing mess, or seems completly out of context. (If anyone has any questions hit me up??)  
> But thanks for reading and I would (of course) die of happiness at every comment <3   
> I don't even know *monkey emoji that hides his face*
> 
> Also, the "If you hurt him, I will beat you to death with a shovel, Have fun!!" is directly taken from a Buffy episode, where Willow says this to Riley.


End file.
